Why Giving Matters

"A truly educated man never ceases to learn"
-Gordon B. Hinkley

While I'm at work, I often listen to music on my iTunes. And every once in a while I will listen to talks or devotionals, mostly from the weekly devotionals held every Tuesday at BYU. (If you went to BYU, I need not remind you of how the whole campus shut down at 11am every Tuesday so you could, ahem, "choose" to attend) Most talks are okay, but every once in a while I find one especially interesting. One recent one was by a non-Mormon guest speaker, Dr. Arthur Brooks, a visiting professor From Syracuse University.

I don't want to regurgitate all that he said, be the premise of his talk was the idea that we (Americans) become more prosperous when we give to charity. And beyond that, how often and to what extent we give, directly influences our happiness and our own prosperity. Not surprisingly, he noted that Utah is the most charitable state in the country, nearly twice as charitable as the next state. And, not coincidentally, Utah is also one of the happiest states.

Dr. Brook's talk was so interesting that I've listened to it at least a half a dozen times and decided to buy one of his recent books, "Gross National Happiness." (Let's hope this doesn't end up as one of the many books that I start, but never finish!)



On a related note, I recommend browsing through iTunes and its myriad of podcasts available. I subscribe to the BYU forums and devotionals, but beyond that, there are other great podcasts as well, like Stuff You Should Know, and the Bronco Mendenhall Show (with recaps of every BYU football game.) Most of the aforementioned podcasts rarely run longer than 30 minutes, so they are quick listens.

I converted the talk by Arthur C. Brooks to an MP3 file in order to post it here on my blog, but for some reason I can't get it to post without giving me some sort of error. But search for it on iTunes Podcasts if you are interested in hearing it. Or go buy his book! (or send me an email and I will send you the file.)